The Potomac Before European Settlement

The Powhatan Confederation  Organized in the late 16 th /early 17 th century  Named for its founder: Chief Powhatan  These are the natives who were famously encountered by the settlers of Virginia’s Jamestown colony  (Think Pocahontas and John Rolfe)  Included as many as 30 tributary tribes

DC-area Tribes/Settlements  The site of current-day Washington, DC was home to at least two major settlements of Native Americans  These settlements were tributary tribes in the Powhatan Confederation  1) Nacotchtanke  Largest DC settlement  Located along the southeast side of the Anacostia River  Residents were called “Nacostins”, or “Anacostines”  2) Nameroughquena  Located on the west bank of the Potomac, near the foot of Theodore Roosevelt Island

Economy and Society  Economy— Mainly agriculture:  Farming  Hunting  Fishing  The agricultural produce of the Potomac region was great enough to also allow the Natives to trade with each other, and later with the English  Societal organization was tribal, with tribes typically encompassing households and 2 or 3 villages or towns  The towns were well constructed, and the countryside contained multiple “highways” through the forests

A Native American Town in the Potomac Region

Native American Politics  Tribes often competed against each other for hunting grounds and trading rights  The Natives of the DC area were on the fringes of the Powhatan Confederacy;  The Ancostines, in particular, were not willing members of the Confederacy

English-Nacotchtanke Alliance  The Nacotchtanke formed an early alliance with the Jamestown settlers, hoping that the English would help them in their conflict with Powhatan  The alliance included the “sale” of Native land to the English in exchange for their support  The eventually produced a great deal of conflict, as the Native concept of land “ownership” was radically different from that of the English